Gone
by xxkaylapaigexx
Summary: My sister, Ella, went missing at the homecoming dance, my freshman year. What I didn't know, was that I would see her again, but it'd be months later, and I'd be at the examiner's office, confirming that the body was indeed my sister's.
1. Chapter 1

I remember it like it was just yesterday. It was so different back then. My mom and dad were still married, my sister, Ella, was still alive. Things were better back then. Even though it wasn't so long ago, it feels like it was a million years ago.

I'm Max, and this is my story.

That day was supposed to be one of the best days of my life. It was my first homecoming dance. I'd actually gotten a date, and I was pretty excited. Here it was, one of those storybook high school memories, and I was enjoying every moment of it. My date, Sam, had arrived at my house, and Ella's date, Dylan was there too. Ella was my big sister. She and I did everything together.

We got dressed together that night. Her dress was so beautiful. It was this gorgeous navy blue dress, which I might add, was strapless. It went down to just above her knees. It had these amazing layers of tool under the skirt, which made it poofy, and she and I both loved it. Mine was this coral color, and it too went to just above my knees, but it wasn't poofy. I'm not really the poofy kind of person.

When we walked down the stair case, there my mom was, snapping pictures like crazy. We smiled, and when I made eye contact with Sam, I blushed. My dad gave them the whole "if you try anything stupid, I'll kill you" speech, and then Dylan drove us there.

I always thought that Dylan was a great guy. He'd been awesome to Ella, and from what I could tell, they were happy together. That's all that really mattered to me when it came to Ella. If she was happy, I was happy for her.

So, we walked into the school gym, and I looked around. Everything was so cliché, and I loved it. It was what I'd been waiting for. There were pink and blue streamers all over the ceilings, and balloons everywhere. And right as I walked in, there was this sappy love song playing, that Sam and I just had to dance to. So, He dragged me into the middle of the dance floor, and we danced.

I remember looking at Ella for reassurance, and she smiled, gave me a thumbs up, and walked off somewhere with Dylan. I think I was so tongue-tied and light headed from dancing with Sam, that I didn't have any idea where Ella was, and I didn't mind.

But as the dance came to a close, things started to get scary. I asked a couple of friends if they'd seen her, but no one had seen her since she and Dylan had wandered off. Sam, Nick, and Iggy, along with Nudge, and Lissa helped us search the school for her. After wandering the halls for a while, we came to the conclusion that They weren't in the school.

"It's okay guys. I'll call her and see if she picks up. Maybe she and Dylan ditched to go and do something else," I remember suggesting. So, I called. It rang, and rang, and rang, but no one answered. That's when I called my mom. I remember my mom freaking out. I told her everything and she said that she was going to come pick me and Sam up, and we were going to the sheriff's office.

So, she picked us up. And on the way to the office, I called Ella at least thirty times. Something was wrong. Ella always answered the phone. That's when the tears started to flow. I was scared. I didn't cry much because I don't believe most things are worth your tears, but this was my big sister, and she was worth my tears.

I sat in the lobby while my mom yelled at the woman who stood at the front desk. Anger was building up inside of me. The Sherriff's office was refusing to do anything because she hadn't been missing 48 hours. My mom actually broke down. She stopped yelling, and started crying. That's when I started yelling. I told my mom to go and sit by Sam, and I lost it on the lady at the front desk.

"When your sister, or daughter, or child, or any loved one in general goes missing, I hope they do just what you're doing to us right now! My sister hasn't answered the phone all night and that is extremely out of character! She always has her phone on her, and if she didn't, she would've found a way to let us know! I'm not leaving here until someone does something! I want people out there searching now!" I yelled. The lady looked at me for a moment.

She picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Yes, I need to report a missing person's case. Yes. Thank you," She said, and put the phone down. " The Sherriff is on his way," She said. I smiled to myself, and went to tell my mom the news.

We waited for about thirty minutes, and then the Sherriff showed up. He asked me what had happened and when I'd last seen my sister, and he did the same for my mom and Sam. He told us that all they could do was send out a search party in the morning. So, we dropped Sam off, and we went home.

I went to bed that night with a hopeful attitude. I kept telling myself that everything would be okay and that Ella would eventually come home. What I didn't know, was that I would see her again, but it'd be six months later, and I'd be at the examiner's office, confirming that the body was indeed my sister's.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up that morning hopeful. Hoping that we'd find my sister today and it would all just be a big misunderstanding. I knew that wasn't going to happen, though. I knew that Ella probably wasn't coming home. So, I got out of bed, and pulled on some everyday clothes. I washed my tear stained face, combed my unruly hair, and looked in the mirror. I told myself that I was going to be strong. I wasn't going to let anyone see me break down.

I walked down stairs to see my dad sleeping on the couch. I knew that my parents were having problems, but I didn't think things had gotten to that point. I told myself to put on a brave face, and walked to the bus stop. Fang, my best friend, sat on the bench listening to music. He looked surprised when I sat down next to him. He turned off his iPod and took out his ear buds, looking at me.

"Max, are you sure you're okay with going to school today?" He asked me. "Yeah. There's nothing else to do. I mean if I stay home, all I get to do is listen to my mom and dad fight, or my mom cry, or my mom talk about how she's worried for Ella. There's a search party tonight and we're going to be there. You wanna go?" I asked him. He looked me straight in the eyes and I could see that he didn't believe that I was okay. He didn't say anything about it though. "Yeah, I'll go. What time is it?" He asked. "6," I said. He looked at the ground. I sighed and laid my head on his shoulder like I did when I was upset.

There was something about Fang that just made me feel better. He'd been my best friend since I was four years old, and we'd stuck together since then. Sure I liked Sam, but nothing compared to Fang when it came to making me feel better. I'd always thought Sam was a bit insensitive when it came to feelings.

"Time to be brave," I mumbled. I think Fang heard me because he squeezed my hand, and let go. The doors of the bus opened and I walked in. When I saw everyone, I knew that they were all looking at me. I'd look at me too. Nothing ever happens around here. That's why it's such a shock when something like this happens.

I walked to the back of the bus, and Fang followed close behind. Usually, he stopped in the middle, and sat with his girlfriend, Lissa, but today he didn't. When we sat down, I gave him a questioning look. "You need me more than she does," He said. I smiled gratefully and laid my head on his shoulder once again.

The bus lurched forward and made its way to school. When we got off of the bus, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. The only person that actually had the guts to walk up to me and ask me something, was Nudge. "Hey, Max. Have you heard anything about Ella?" She asked me. "No, but there's a search party at 6 in the field and wooded area behind school. Feel free to join," I told her. She nodded and told me that she'd spread the word.

The day went on, and all I could feel were people's eyes. I heard them whispering and looking at me at lunch. When I looked at the door, I thought about bolting. I decided that it'd probably only make things worse. You'd never guess who walked through those doors at that moment though.

Dylan. Dylan walked through those doors, and he looked straight at me. The last person to see my sister was standing at the entrance of the cafeteria and I planned on asking him what happened. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I stood up and walked toward him. The whole cafeteria went silent. There were no more whispers, and if people weren't looking at me before, they were definitely looking at me now.

"Dylan, where's my sister?" I asked him. He looked at me for a moment and sighed. "Max, I haven't seen Ella," He said. I was confused. "What do you mean? You were our ride to the dance, not to mention my sister's date, and she snuck out of the dance with you. If you don't start talking, I'll call the Sherriff and let him know that you're displaying some really irrational behavior. You do realize that we thought you were missing too, right?" I asked him. "I-I.." He stuttered. "I don't really want to know what you have to say, unless it pertains to my sister's whereabouts. In fact, I think I'm going to go and call the Sherriff's office and let them know that you made an appearance," I told him.

I pulled out my cell phone and called. Just as the Sherriff answered, Dylan ran out the door. "Yeah, Dylan just showed up at school, and now he's trying to get away. I want that guy questioned, and I want him questioned now," I told him and hung up. I looked around. Once again, everyone was looking at me. I made my way back to my table and put my head in my hands.

I think I felt a tear slip down my face. "Not here, you don't," Fang said. He lifted me up and walked me out of the cafeteria, and into the parking lot. He pulled my hands from my face. "Max, look at me," He said. I looked into his onyx eyes and continued to cry. "He knows, Fang. He knows where my sister is, and he's gonna get away with it," I cried. Fang pulled me to him. "No he is not. He is not going to get away with it, and we are going to make sure of it," He said.

I cried into Fang's shoulder for the rest of lunch, and when lunch was over, we walked to the front desks, and checked ourselves out. We were allowed to because of the recent events. When we got out of the office, there was a detective waiting for me in the parking lot.


	3. Chapter 3

"Max, I'm Detective Johnson. I'd like to ask you a few questions about your sister's disappearance. Do you mind?" The man asked. I looked at Fang for a moment. "Only if he gets to come with me," I replied. The detective sighed and agreed. "So, should we meet somewhere? Fang and I were just going to go to the Subway down the street," I said. The detective told us that he'd meet us there and drove away. I looked at Fang for reassurance, and he nodded.

So, we silently walked to Subway. My mind was racing. What if they knew where Ella was? What if they'd caught Dylan and he'd confessed? I didn't know what to expect. When we arrived, we sat silently with the detective. I think he could sense the tension, so he decided to break it.

"Miss Ride, I know that its probably been a rough few hours, not knowing where your sister is, and contacting the man that she was last seen with. I'm going to ask you to cooperate and to tell me everything that you know," He said. I nodded. "Okay, so the last time you saw your sister was last night at the homecoming dance, correct?" He asked. I nodded again. "You're sure that it was Dylan that she was sneaking off with?" He asked. "Absolutely," I replied. "Ms. Ride, your sister has been missing for just a little over 16 hours. We've had people scoping out just about every field in the town, and no one's found her. My job is to see if we can crack this case before we hit the 48 hour mark. After that, this case is handed over to another investigator, and the case goes long term. Hopefully we can find Ella before 48 hours is up because if not, the chances that she's dead increase from 50 to about 75," He said.

I remember just staring at him. If we didn't get a lead on my sister in the next day, then chances were that my sister was dead. This couldn't be possible. I'd just seen her last night. If someone killed her, they would've dumped her body somewhere. No one's found a body.

"I understand, Detective. There's a community arranged search tonight behind the school, but I don't know what more we can do," I told him. He sighed. "Max, this is a waiting game. If Dylan proves to be a person of interest, I could call and make some arrangements to find out about this guy, but there isn't much that we can do. I'm sorry, but this is what happens when people go missing. It's a waiting game," He said.

"You'll have to excuse me. I got word earlier that Dylan was taken into custody. I need to be there for questioning," He said. With that, he was gone. I looked at Fang. Once again, his eyes told me that he knew. I didn't have to pretend. "You know what we should do? We should visit the tree house. We haven't been there in a while, and I think I could use a little blast from the past," I said. Fang smirked. "Well, I guess we can. I just hope that the whole thing hasn't fallen apart," Fang said. I smiled.

We walked along, laughing, and for the first time in 18 hours, I felt like I was semi-okay. That all changed when we got to the tree house. We climbed up, and took a look around. I walked to the picnic table, where there was a folded piece of paper. When I opened it, it read:

_If you want to know where Ella is, you'll have to find me first. Don't worry, it won't be that hard to figure out. Though by the time you find out who I am, it might be a little too late for sissy. Here's the deal. I'm going to leave a hint somewhere visible for you, every day. These hints will slowly lead you to your sister, Max. If you go to the cops with these hints, I'll kill your sister. It won't bother me at all. Believe me. I'll know if you go to the authorities._

_-Insert Clever Alias Here_

I felt a sob rise from my throat. And another, and another, and another. They wouldn't stop, and neither would the tears. Fang pulled me into a hug after reading the letter. "What are we going to do? I've got no idea who would've harmed Ella. She's friends with everyone. What if its someone who's mad at me?" I sobbed. Fang held me close, and said, "Max, I don't know what's going to happen. All I know is that I'm not leaving you. I'm going to be right here for you. As long as I'm around, you're not alone. I love you, and I'd do anything to make this easier for you. If I could bring Ella home right this second, I would. I can't though. So you and I are going to be strong. We're going to make it through this together."

I was shocked. "You love me?" I asked. He answered me with a kiss. It felt right, and all I could think about was explaining this to Sam. Wait. Where was Sam?


	4. Chapter 4

When we pulled apart, I looked into his eyes once more. I smiled. Fang had been my best friend for as long as I could remember, and now we were going to be something more than that. I just needed to talk to Sam and explain things. In the time that I'd known Sam, he wasn't an unreasonable guy. In fact, he'd always been pretty cool about understanding. He lacked the sensitivity part, but he wasn't a jerk either.

"Fang, I really, really care about you. Honestly, I love you too. This feels so right, but I think I need to end things with Sam before it goes any further. I'm not a cheater. But I do love you," I smiled.

"I get it, Max. I totally agree. I'd hate it if you'd gone behind my back with another guy, too. Speaking of which, where was he today?" He asked. I shrugged my shoulders. "I've got no idea. He usually texts me if something's going on. I wonder what happened," I told him. I looked at my watch. "I think we better get going. The search party starts in 30 minutes, and my parents are going to be wondering where we are," I told him.

So, we walked to the school. I was shocked at the number of cars there. I'd had no idea that everyone cared about my sister that much. It made my heart ache. I missed my sister, and I hoped that we'd find her that night, so that we could go home, and everything would be normal again. We walked out to the field, and I saw my parents talking to Fang's parents, so we went to join them.

"Hey Mom and Dad," I said. They looked at me and frowned. "Where have you been?" My mom asked me. "I was at the old tree house with Fang, Mom," I answered back. "Well isn't that nice? While your sister may be lying dead in a field somewhere, you decided that it would be a good time to go and play. If Ella were here, she certainly wouldn't be playing around," My mom spat. I felt the tears welling up again.

Just then, the head Sherriff's voice projected across the field, using a bullhorn. "Attention Ladies and gentleman, I'd like to thank you all for coming out tonight. As you search, look for things like cell phones, jewelry, shoes, and if there's any kind of body, you are to report back to this spot immediately," The Sheriff said. I hoped that the people wouldn't actually just refer to my sister as a _body._

Fang took me by the hand as we departed from our parents. My main goal tonight was to find some answers as to what happened to my sister. We searched, and searched, and searched. I was ready to give up, when I saw something blue in my peripheral vision. And when I looked to the side, I screamed.

I couldn't believe it. There it was, my sister's dress. It was torn and tattered, and had mud stains on it. I started to cry again. What was I going to do if my sister actually was dead? I hadn't thought about it just yet. What if this was really the end? How would I live life without my big sister?

Fang pulled out his phone and called his parents, who brought the Sherriff to where we were. Shock flashed in the Sherriff's eyes when he saw the dress hanging there. He pulled out his walkie-talkie, and said, "we've found something." Indeed he did find something. He found the dress that my sister and I spent three hours looking around the mall for. She wanted last night to be perfect. After all, it was going to be her last homecoming dress. She wanted to make it special. It was special. Beautiful, too.

Suddenly I felt sick to my stomach. As I analyzed the appearance of the dress more and more, I noticed that those stains weren't mud. They were blood.


	5. Chapter 5

I stood there, mortified at what I was seeing. Blood. Blood was on Ella's dress. Who's blood was it? Was it Ella's, or was it someone else's? Right now, we had no way of telling unless we found the source. The dress was removed by the team of investigators, stored in a plastic bag, and tucked away in a cop car. The head investigator informed us that the team would be taking it to a lab to find out who's blood was on the dress.

When it was time to leave, that meant that it was time to part with Fang. I hugged him goodbye and got into my mother's car, where my mother and father were already seated and ready to go. As we started to drive away, Mom and Dad started to fight. To make things even better, it started to rain. I watched the drops roll down the window. They reminded me of the tears that I'd shed that night. What if it was Ella's blood? What if Dylan killed her? How would I live like this for the rest of my childhood?

When Ella and I fought, we'd always said nasty things to each other. As I continued through the day without her, I realized that I regretted saying every one of those things. They weren't worth the pain that I was experiencing now. But now wasn't about me. It was about finding my sister. I began to wonder if she'd died a painful death. If she was dead, I didn't want her to die suffering. She didn't deserve that.

The tears started to roll, just like the water droplets. No one noticed. I looked at my parents in the front seat. They were yelling at each other, my mom was crying, my dad was cursing. If this was what a world without her was like, I really didn't want to live in it.

Suddenly, my mom slammed on the brakes, and the car skid on the slick asphalt. I felt myself being flung to the side, and before I could even register what happened, The car was upside down. At that moment, I just sat there, looking at the turmoil that my life had morphed into. My heart broke. It broke for the suffering that my sister had most likely gone through, it broke for my parents' broken marriage, it broke for the idea of taking an innocent life, and it broke for the chaos that reigned over my new life.

I felt myself losing consciousness as the chaos erupted again around me. My eyes started to close when I heard panicked voices coming from the rear of the car. People were opening doors and trying to rescue us. One voice stuck out in particular. I knew that voice from somewhere. It was Fang. I was retrieved from the totaled car, and held in strong arms, in which I recognized to be Fang's.

"Max, stay with me. Please. We're going to get through this, but first I need you to open your eyes and to say something. Come on, I love you so so much," Fang said panicked. It took me all the force I had to pry my eyes open and to say, "Hi," before a dark and dreamless sleep consumed me.


	6. Chapter 6

I awoke to a very loud noise, and a stinging feeling in my arm. My first reaction was to make it stop. So I lifted my left arm, noticing that it was a little heavier than usual. I thought that I was just weak from the crash, so without opening my eyes, I went to grab at the source of the stinging, but someone grabbed my hand. I opened my eyes. "You probably don't want to do that. Unless you plan on dealing without pain meds because that's cool too," Fang smiled. I looked at the hand he was holding. It was in a large purple cast. I put it back down. "Yeah, the doctors think that happened when the car flipped," He said with a sad smile.

"Fang?" I asked. "Yeah?" I sighed. "My life has become a complete nightmare in the past two days. Now not only do we know that my sister is most likely dead, but my parents are splitting up, and I'm still supposed to keep up with school work, and Coach would flip if I ditched soccer for good. I don't think I have much of a choice anymore, though," I said, signaling to my arm. "Max, you can't stress over soccer. It's soccer. As for finding Ella, Dylan confessed that he has something to do with her disappearance. We don't know much more. He won't give any more details. Except for this. We don't know if its true, but Dylan claims that Sam has something to do with it. That's why he hasn't been around."

I felt my heart drop into my stomach. Though I loved Fang, it was still a tough blow to take. I rolled to face him. "We're going to find out what happened to my sister. Dead or Alive, I'm going to find out who did it. And when I do, I'm going to press charges like you wouldn't believe," I told him. He smiled. "There's my Max." I could feel myself getting tired again. I let out a yawn. "Go to sleep, Max. I love you, and this is all going to work out," He told me. I sighed and drifted off to sleep.

I was awoken to the sound of a knocking on the door. It was the lead detective. Fang, who had drifted asleep too, became more alert at the sight of him. He sat down on the other side of my bed. "Miss Ride, Mr. Walker, I've got some important news. While interviewing Dylan, he tipped us off and let us know where Sam was. So, we got a hold of Sam. He's still in questioning, but from what he's told us, we think That Miss Ride's sister is dead. If Sam doesn't give us any kind of reasoning for us to charge him or Dylan, we'll be forced to put the case on hold until someone finds some form of evidence," He said.

At that moment, I hoped that this was all just a sick dream. I hoped that Ella would come running through those doors and would scream "Gotcha", but it wasn't going to happen. My life had gone from perfect to horrible in a matter of days. Now I was actually going to have to live this nightmare for the rest of my life. Knowing that my sister is most likely dead, and we can't do anything about it. My heart had been torn out of my chest, stomped on, and splattered all over the cement. My sister was gone. The worst part was not knowing. I didn't have any idea what had happened to my sister. There was no closure. She just vanished, leaving nothing more than a bloody homecoming dress behind.

I cried. It seemed like it was going to become a routine for me; crying all the time. And for a while, it did. I was falling into a pit of depression and I didn't even know it. What I didn't know, was that this wasn't the end. I was in for a real surprise.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up, still in the hospital. I didn't know how long it had been, or even what time it was. When I looked out the window at my bedside, I saw thick, gray clouds covering the city. It wasn't raining, but it wanted to. In a way, it was kind of like me. On the outside, I was dull and gloomy. I looked like I was going to cry, but I didn't. It was like the tears just shut off. I didn't know how to feel at that moment. Maybe it was the drugs, or the shock, but I didn't feel anything. I looked to Fang, who was sleeping. I couldn't help but feel bad for putting all of my stress on him.

Normally, when you date a girl, her sister doesn't go missing, and you don't have to listen to her complain about how terrible her life is. I felt like Fang would eventually feel like this was all there was to a life with me. We'd wait, and wonder about Ella, and I'd die a little more every day. He'd be forced to watch. I didn't want that for him, but I was too weak to try to live without him. It was selfish, but I wasn't ready to lose anyone else. That made me worry too.

Fang was too good of a person. He'd never leave me on his own, knowing that I was going through this. Knowing that I was dying a little more, every single day. He has too big of a heart. He'd stay with me, just because he didn't want to break me more than I'd already been broken. I didn't want him to stay because he felt like he had to.

I lay there thinking. Every thought breaking my heart further and further. I let the pain consume me, but I didn't shed a single tear. I wanted to, but I wouldn't. Not that my parents were actually worried about me or anything, but I had to be strong for Ella. I thought about the terror that she must've felt at the time of her death. Or, if she was actually alive, I thought about the terror that she must've still been feeling.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but the sleep wouldn't come. I looked to the ceiling, and did something that I hadn't done in a while. I prayed:

"Hey there. I know I only talk to you when I need something, and that really sucks. You give people these beautiful lives, and they trash them. I'm scared. I don't know how to continue my life. All I've been doing since Ella's gone missing, is wonder, and cry, and break down. I don't know what I did to deserve this. I'm going to live with this burden on my shoulders for the rest of my life, and I don't know how to. I don't know what to do. And I try, so hard to block it all out, but it doesn't work. I can't think about anything else. I can't concentrate on school work, I can't play soccer, instead, All I can do is watch the turmoil one would call my life, get worse. I get to watch my parents drift apart. I get to wallow in sorrow, wondering what happened to my sister because no one'll give me the answer to this damn nightmare. So, if there's some lesson that I'm supposed to learn, please just GET ON WITH IT. Because I'm ready to take my own life at this point. What more can you take from me?" I asked.

I looked to Fang, who was still sleeping, hoping that he hadn't heard. I didn't want him to worry more than he already was. I closed my eyes and thought to myself,

_What is this life even worth anymore?_


End file.
